Preview: Teen Angels at the LA Art Book Fair

[dropcap size=big]T[/dropcap]een Angels Magazine, Kill Your Idols, and Printed Matter proudly present TEEN ANGELS, an exhibition featuring the artist known as Teen Angel who in 1977 began working working full time as an artist and writer for Lowrider Magazine. In 1981 he ventured into publishing on his own and started Teen Angels Magazine; with no constraints, he was able to create a magazine just the way he wanted featuring artwork, dedications, photographs, poems, and articles all focusing on life in the streets of the Varrios of California and the Southwest. Long before MySpace, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or any other form of social media existed, if you were a teenager or young adult from the Varrio and wanted to know what was happening in other Varrios across the United States, there was only one place to find out, Teen Angels Magazine.

From the late 70’s through the 90’s, Teen Angels Magazine gave young Chicanos an outlet to connect with other Chicanos through dedications, pen pals, poems, photos and art. Rejected by larger chain stores, the only place to find Teen Angels was in liquor stores and small mom-and-pop markets in the 'hood'. He went on to create over 200 issues which today are highly collectable due to their rarity. Teen Angel passed away in early 2015 but his legacy lives on.

The exhibition will include original Teen Angels Magazine cover art, the entire collection of Teen Angels Magazine's 200+ issues, model cars, miniature buildings and more, all created by Teen Angel himself, including many unpublished, never before seen original pieces of artwork.

This exhibition is made possible by the generous support of LEVI'S.

Please enjoy this selection of preview images from work that will be displayed at the fair, along with the cover of one of the limited edition Teen Angels books which will be available for sale.